Rodley to Leeds

Thu 18th Aug  Rodley to Leeds

This morning, Hugo was still on board as we had kept him in. We didn’t want any further delays.

There were no boats to share with, so we set off on our own, past the Rodley Barge, and through two swing bridges. 

Rodley Barge

Ross Mill Swing Bridge

As we arrived at Newlay Locks, there were three men from CRT ready for us, so James didn’t need to get out of the boat.  They locked us down the set of three without wanting any help.

Newlay Three Locks

Leaving Newlay Three Locks

 Forge Three Locks

In just half mile we came to the second set of three – Forge Locks.  Here there was just one of the helpers, so James got out with a windlass. He was wearing his Boaters Christian Fellowship shirt, which led to a conversation about faith. It is the first time we have given out “How do Locks work?” to a lock keeper!

The same helicopter as we had seen yesterday was buzzing around overhead, continuing the pylon survey.

Helicopter

We went through Kirkstall Lock on our own.  Just as we were leaving a lady with her two grand children appeared, disappointed that they had missed the entertainment.  We offered them a boat trip, and they came on board for a 30 minute ride. They were delighted with this unexpected activity, and they went away with leaflets.

Kirkstall Lock

Max, Nyha, June

We let them off at Redcote Bridge, and continued past Armley Mill Bridge, where there is an industrial museum. The canal bridge was apparently built around 1770.

Armley Mill Bridge

We arrived at Oddy Two Locks, where there was another CRT man, pulling out lots of weed with a rake.

Oddy Two Locks

As we approached Leeds, despite more industry and buildings around, the water was very clear, and there were water lilies growing. The River Aire was never far away.

The approach to Leeds

After Office Lock, where the Canal Office used to be, there are visitor moorings at Granary Wharf, and we found Unique and Joie de Vivre there. They said it was very noisy, and they were moving down to Clarence Dock, where we were heading.

Unique and Joie de Vivre

We came to the final lock: Lock 1.  A man there said he had never seen a boat go through a lock before, so he was given the appropriate leaflet.  There was a water taxi waiting to use the landing stage, which they share with boaters using the lock.

Lock 1, Leeds

Water taxi 

As we left the lock, we were on the River Aire, which we had followed all the way from Gargrave.  Last winter they had severe floods in Leeds, and we now saw evidence of building work to increase the height of the flood defences.

New flood defences

Unblocking drainage channels

Crown Point Bridge

The entrance to Clarence Dock

Last time we were in Clarence Dock by the Armouries Museum there had been about twenty visitor mooring spaces, with a 7 day maximum stay.  Now it seemed there were only three, and they were all occupied. The pontoons opposite were for residential moorings. A man on one of the visitor moorings suggested we moor on the pontoons, and then speak to Craig, on the first cruiser there. We did as suggested, and Craig did not even ask the boat name or length. We said we wanted to be there for four nights, and he said that was fine.  The three official visitor moorings are now meant to be for 48 hours, but looking at Stronghold’s blog, we could see that one of the boats there now was also there on 8^th August. We saw no movement on that boat all the four days we were there. Apparently CRT comes to check every two weeks on a Tuesday.

Our mooring in Clarence Dock

We went on a fact finding excursion. A call in to Mumtaz Indian restaurant to see their menus, A visit to the Armouries where we saw the exhibition about the Staffordshire Hoard, and obtained a Leeds map, and a stroll to the next lock to establish the whereabouts of the sanitary station.

Looking up inside the tower at the Armouries Museum

We had a meal on board to finish up some items.  We had no TV signal so we watched The Pink Panther Strikes Again.

13 locks, 7 miles, 2 swing bridges